Conflict of Interests
by CorvidaeCorvusCorax
Summary: After the Brotherhood falls apart, Toad finds himself in need of repaying a debt. Rated T to be safe.
1. Prologue

Conflict of Interests

After the Brotherhood falls apart, Toad finds himself in need of repaying a debt.

Prologue

"It'll be easy, just take her home," The man in glasses—who called himself "Jim"—adjusted himself to the booth's near-destroyed seat, "And she'll make the debt go away." He played with the straw in his drink, sliding over a folder with a picture paper-clipped to the front of it.

The picture was a girl, young (maybe 16), in a school uniform—a gray plaid skirt and a white blouse. Her eyes were light-colored, and her hair was a dark shade of brown, cut in a short bob.

"What's the catch?" Toad leaned back, looking at the file as though it might bite him. He wasn't touching the damn thing until he knew the whole story. He fixed his hood as a pretty waitress wandered by. Being out in public in broad daylight made him antsy.

"A few years ago, the family did you some kind of favor?" Jim asked. Toad nodded, so he continued, "The family seems to have 'misplaced' her, since you last saw them. Instead of giving them some other kind of compensation, they feel that if you bring her home, it'll be enough to cover it."

"How did they 'misplace' a teenager?" Toad remarked.

"The same way every parent does," Jim smirked, "Anyway, she was last seen in District X, in Manhattan. Have you heard of it?"

The only place he could go as a mutant and not get the shit kicked out of him, why yes, he had heard of it, "Why would she head off to Mutant Town?"

"Granted, she's young, but she is very capable of getting from Massachusetts to New York," Jim replied, "And she's been doing this for a year now. Every time we get close to her she vanishes. We need someone like you to track her down."

"A murderer?"

"A mutant. Someone inconspicuous."

Toad snorted when he heard that, "If it gets the family off my back, then yeah. I'll do it."

District X had a mind of it's own. It was proof that the city of New York was a living, breathing creature with no regard for the rest of the world and the will of the people bent the city to their image. Though others were walking around freely (a girl with purple skin and forehead ridges was a welcome sight out in the open), Toad kept his hood up and his head down. It may have been Mutant Town, but he was still a wanted criminal.

He had the file for the girl in his back pack. Her name was Brenna—but may have been going under an assumed identity, she was drawn to artists and musicians, had a knack for hide-and-seek, and there was a note in the file that said that if he gave any indication to knowing her or her family, she would run for it. So his plan was to get friendly and maybe trick her. No really, that was all he had at the time.

Jim was sure to give him pointers as to _how_ to trick her, but it seemed...unusual. Why put so much effort into this girl if they were just going to send someone else to do the dirty work?

He wanted to take a day or so to start searching, but knew that if he waited too long she would have moved on. What still perplexed him was that if she was a mutant, and realistically it was possible—why else go to Mutant Town—why did they want her back so badly? Her parents, the family that saved him, were definitely human and okay with mutants—at least as pawns.

He figured it would be best to get something to eat for the time being. He found a decent looking diner on the main road and hoped he could come up with a better plan.

"What can I get you?" A lady with no outward mutations asked.

"Coffee," He sighed, "Black." He placed his bag next to him and rubbed his face. It had been a long night and an equally long morning. Pulling out the file, he ignored the waitress as she poured his coffee.

Looking through pictures, which appeared to be security footage from various stores, he drew no conclusion as to what she would look like now. He didn't even remember what she looked like a few years ago.

"I know who you are," A voice startled him. He looked up from his work, attempting to look the least bit surprised.

"Can I help you—" But he stopped short. Sitting in front of him was a girl. Her hair was shock white and she was thin as a rail. Her eyes were silvery-gray.

"Remain calm," She stared into his eyes, "I know who you are and why you're here."

"This is bloody ridiculous—"

However, underneath the table, there was a clicking noise. The unmistakable sound of a gun cocking.

He was at her mercy.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One: Objector**

He was suddenly very aware of how out in the open he had been all day. How long had this girl been following him?

"Who are you?" He asked carefully.

"That's not important, not yet," She shook her head, "What have they told you?"

"I'm not telling you anything until you put that thing away," He replied, feeling defiant. Looking down at the file and looking back up at her, even under the white hair and hoodie, he could tell this job would be easier than he thought.

The girl sighed, figuring she wasn't getting anywhere, "Fine." She put her weapon on the table, where he could see it. It looked like a toy revolver from a costume store.

He eyed it, "Is that a B.B. Gun?"

"As a matter of fact, it is," She nodded, "Got you good."

"Who the hell are you?" He reiterated.

The waitress came back with a pad of paper, "Oh, hello Mae! Is this that boy you were talking about?"

The girl smiled sweetly, "Yes, it is. The usual for me and whatever he wants."

He laughed uncomfortably, "Just coffee."

"He's being shy," Mae smirked, "He'll have what I'm having."

"If you say so!" The waitress said cheerily and went to the kitchen.

Now Toad gave her a strange look, eying her warily, "How long have you been here?"

"Couple months," She shrugged, "I'm Mae, by the way." She held her hand out for him to shake. When he refused it, she put her hands in her lap awkwardly, "I guess I should explain myself. I know you're from the Brotherhood. I also know you were supposed to be dead. So why are you here?"

"I'm here on vacation," He snarled, sick of her games, "Why have you been stalking me? And why did you think pulling a gun on me would work?"

"Well, the answer to the second question is that because you're supposed to be dead, if I cornered you, you wouldn't have attacked out in the open," Mae explained, "And as for the first question...it's kind of hard to explain. Maybe after lunch we could go back to my place and talk..."

"I hope talking is all you'll be doing," The waitress had returned with two plates, placing them carefully in front of the two.

"Shelby!" Mae blushed five shades of red.

"You're too young to be a mother, Mae," Shelby said, then went off to grab another patron's order.

He gave her a look that said he wasn't amused, "You told the waitress?!"

"Not everything," Mae shrugged, then pointed to his plate, "Eat up!"

* * *

Mae's apartment was above the diner, and though it was small and sparsely decorated, it still managed to seem dingy and messy.

"I didn't think you'd be here this soon, hence the mess," Mae smirked.

"So...," He slowly got the words out, "You said you wanted to talk to me...about the stalking thing?"

"Right!" She said excitedly, "See here's the thing. I need to get out of the country. And I don't have time to explain why." She kept glancing at her watch and eying the window nervously, "I need someone like you to smuggle me out of the country. My first stop is Maine."

"Why Maine?"

"I have a friend up there," She replied. She did it again, looked at her watch and looked out the window, this time very quickly, like some kind of nervous tick, "He's got a way for me to get out without

"Well, I'm already here doing a job, so..."

She glared at him, "You said you were on vacation."

He looked amused, "And you pretended to pull a gun on me."

"It was to get your attention!" She sounded offended. She was definitely nervous...but why?

"Well, you got it and I said no," He shrugged.

"Damn it, Toad," She sighed angrily, "What are they paying? I'll double it."

"Why do you think I'm getting paid?"

"You said 'job,' that implies payment."

Well, she was wrong in that respect.

Technically he was supposed to be looking for her. Yeah, he figured it out. He would rather go along with her story and pretend than explain the whole thing to her, but boy he enjoyed watching her squirm. She deserved it after scaring him to death.

"Sort of," He shrugged, exhausted by Mae. Now he just wanted to take her home so this would be all over. When she looked at her watch again, he shouted at her, "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" She replied.

"Why are you so nervous?" He felt something in the pit of his stomach. If it was so easy for her to track him down, would it be so hard for someone else to find her?

"No reason," He didn't believe her. She immediately ran to her bed, grabbed a backpack and threw every item of clothing in her vicinity into it.

"Now, what the Hell are you doing?" He was beginning to feel as though he was in danger.

"Nothing," Sure as hell didn't look like nothing. He looked at the window, getting an eerie feeling when he did.

"You might want to hide somewhere," She said, matter of factly.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door.

"Leave her alone!" He could hear Shelby shouting.

"We know you're in there!"

"Who are they looking for, exactly?!" Toad shouted at Mae.

"Well, I promised those guys I'd pay them to help me track you down and...They don't seem to like you," Mae replied.

The door burst open. She flung the bag on her back and ducked behind the couch, he followed her, just as they opened fire on them.

"What the hell are we waiting for?" Toad tried to yell over the gun fire.

There was the sound of glass breaking, and Mae pointed to the window, "Let me distract them, first." She rose to her feet, and moved her arms in a lifting motion. The couch floated upward, bobbing slightly in the air. It still covered them, and she yelled, "Go down the fire escape!"

"Not without you!" He shouted back.

She growled and motioned, throwing the couch toward the trio of thugs.

He helped push her through the window and the two made their way to the ground. They didn't stop running until they were well away from Mutant Town.

After catching a subway to anywhere other than there, the two sat down and looked at each other.

She bore a goofy grin, "So that was fun, huh?"

He only glared in response.

* * *

At the last stop, they got off the subway and made their way to the surface. They managed to make it to Brooklyn.

"So from here, we can take a train to Massachusetts," Mae said, looking at a map she had found in the subway.

"Until then, we should find a place to sleep."

She was right, it was getting late, "We need to get as far away from New York as possible." Besides, if they made it to Massachusetts, he could convince her to go home. She seemed to have other plans.

"And how do you plan to do that?" She asked.

"Do you know how to hot-wire a car?" He smirked.

"No," She glowered at him.

He looked around for a decent car, preferably older, "Looks like you don't know everything, then do you?"


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two: Ramblings**

They were on the road for an hour before she woke up again, in a daze, wondering where she was. No matter how many roads she traveled, she still wasn't used to sleeping in a different bed every night. Waking up in a car was new, however.

She looked over at the man who would be her only way out. He had his hood off now, and his skin was a sickly green color, and his eyes seemed to protrude a little. If she could have asked anyone but a terrorist, she would have, but she had no choice.

"So what brought you to Mutant Town?" She finally asked.

He looked thoughtful before he answered, she noticed he did that a lot, "Want the truth?" She nodded, "I was looking for you."

"Why?" She was a little confused. Everything about the last few days-or was it months-was confusing. She often felt dizzy and had to sit down.

"Because I needed to find you," He shrugged. When he wasn't sarcastic, he was cryptic, "Can I ask you something?"

She stared out the window, and into her own reflection in the side mirror, "Is it about my hair?"

He looked in her direction and smirked, "Yeah. How did you know?"

"I know a lot of things," She replied.

"So, is it dyed, or is it from your powers?"

She sighed, "Neither." If she had to guess, he didn't believe her, and decided on mutation as the cause.

"A little while ago you were willing to chat up a storm," He said, "What's wrong?"

"I just want to get out of the country," She replied, "Those guys took a lot out of me. I went to them to find you. But the second I mentioned your little codename, they turned on me."

"How did you know so much about me in the first place?"

"I didn't," She said, "I knew your name, and I knew what you did. I know that someone contacted you and sent you here. At first I thought it was someone to help get me out of the country, but when you reacted that way, well...now I don't know. Why were you in Mutant Town anyway?"

"Well," He shifted, "I was contacted by someone to find you. That part is true. But now, after seeing all the trouble you've been through to find a way out, I'll help you get to Maine."

She eyed him for a moment, as if she was trying to figure him out, but then stopped, "Thank you."

She wondered if she would regret trusting him.

* * *

They made a stop at a motel in the middle of nowhere, near the border of Massachusetts. He felt a strange feeling in his head. She wasn't around to see it, she was in the shower.

_Did you find her?_

He gasped, a little beyond freaked out.

_Mr. Toad? Have you found the girl?_ This time the voice was recognizable as Jim's, and the tone a little stern.

He looked around, feeling uncomfortable, "Yes?" He spoke out loud, wondering what good it would do when the voice replied.

_That's good news. How long will it take you to get her here?_

"I don't know," He shrugged, "Judging by the way it's going, roughly a day or so."

_That long?_

"I'm trying to get her to trust me," He replied, "She tried holding me at gun point. She knew who I was."

_Hmm,_ Jim's voice faded for a moment, _This might complicate things._

"I'm trying," Toad sighed.

_Try harder. We'll be expecting you soon._

"Great," He hung his head, sitting on the edge of the mattress. He got a two bed room, and still the room seemed to constrict him.

"Who are you talking to?" Mae's voice came from the bathroom door, where she stood—in only her undergarments, toweling her hair dry.

"_Shit_!" He cursed, startled, "Can't you put some clothes on?!"

She seemed more amused than annoyed by his shouting.

She smirked, "I left my clothes out here by accident."

He wondered if she knew something was up, but seemed to act innocently enough. He tried to stay focused on what the Hell just happened, but his vision wandered over to her pale form, particularly taking in the view of her behind, with the way her lace panties barely covered her—

"Do you mind?" She noticed him staring.

"Can you please just find some clothes...and put them on," He sputtered and glared at the floor, refusing to look at her for several minutes.

"It's okay," She laughed, "I'm not a minor or anything."

He tried to remember what the file said, about her age. _Was she eighteen_?

When he was sure she was dressed, he looked over at her. She was sprawled out in her own bed, wearing a gray tank top and jeans, reading something.

"What's that?" He eyed it. When he did, she tried to cover it with her arms.

"It's nothing," She said, "Don't worry about it."

"It looks like it's something," He teased.

She gave him a glare, "I said don't worry about it."

* * *

When she fell asleep, her white hair splayed out over her pillow and a leg sticking out off the bed awkwardly, he was still awake.

He wanted her to trust him, so she would come with him to Massachusetts, back to her family. He couldn't go through her belongings. It wasn't right.

Then again, he never did anything that was right, so after a long five minutes of debate, he crept over to her bed, searching for the book. It wasn't under the bed, or next to it on the end table...It may have been under her pillow. He checked there, but it wasn't.

Finally, he managed to find it curled in her other arm. It took several minutes, but he managed to get it out of her grasp without waking her. It must have been days since she had seen a decent night's sleep.

Flicking through the pages, he found nothing of interest, just doodlings of a bored teenager.

_**Don'T tRUSt tHem!**_

He was slightly unsettled by the way the words were written so jaggedly across the pages.

_**TheY wiLL tAke evERYthIng!**_

Flipping through a few more pages, he found strange symbols surrounded by more splashes of jagged words.

_**SeE EveRYTHing! WhY CAN I see EverthiNG?! WhAT dID tHEy DO to mY HeAd?**_

The last thing he saw before he slammed the book shut was: **MUST GET OUT OF AMERICA. BEFORE THEY FIND ME.**


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three: Warm Up**

He didn't sleep much that night. He wondered how she could. Toad saw the writings in his head well after he put the notebook back, and it made him uncomfortable to look at her while she slept. He knew this job was too easy. Something was up with the girl, Brenna or Mae or whatever the Hell her name was. Whatever happened to her wasn't very nice.

Before he knew it, the alarm she set for the next morning, at roughly five, went off. She shifted and grunted and arched her way to the beeping monstrosity and shut it off. Clicking on the lamp, she looked at him with bleary eyes and gave a lopsided smile, "Ready to head out, travel buddy?"

He noticed it, then, on the back of her hand. Without her gloves on, just her bare skin, he saw something on the back of her hand. It looked like she had been branded. He didn't get a good look at it before she noticed that he was staring.

"Hey, do you wanna find something to eat before we hit the road?" She asked, hiding her hand under the comforter. She definitely knew something was up. He was angry with himself that he couldn't get further with this mind game and get her home.

Was that why they wanted her back? Because someone did something terrible to her? He mumbled an answer and she started getting dressed.

"Do you own anything that isn't gray or black?" He asked, as she pulled on a gray tee shirt and black pants, slipping her boots back on.

She looked mildly offended, "No. It helps me blend in better."

"With what? A silent movie?" He asked, pointing at her shock white hair.

"I think we should just eat and hit the road," Her tone was urgent.

The last time she did that, some thugs tried to kill them. He realized he was holding his breath. She was making him nervous. He hadn't been like this since...her family rescued him. He was sure he was dead. They managed to bring him back. How, he wasn't quite sure.

* * *

He remembered there being nothing but darkness, and when he awoke, he saw a woman—with dark hair and light eyes—standing over him, next to her was a man with black hair and blue eyes.

"Damnit, Rowan," the man hissed at the woman.

"I'm sorry," She looked on the verge of tears, "He was dying...I wanted him to come back."

"We can't keep doing things like this..." The man's tone softened, "How are we going to explain this to our kids? To our Family?"

"I just feel like it was something I needed to do," She shrugged. He held her as Toad came to.

Toad groaned and tried to sit up. He felt heavy, "Who the Hell are you people?" At least, that's what he tried to say. He felt groggy and was sure that's not what came out.

"I'm Rowan Bram," The woman smiled at him, "I'm sorry, but I think I just saved your life."

As he drifted out of consciousness, he heard the man's voice again, "I guess he owes us one."

* * *

As he ate, she kept giving him weird looks. He hid himself under a hood and kept his head down. She, on the other hand, let everyone see her strange hair. Granted, hair color and physical mutations were two completely different things, she just wondered why—if he wasn't an assassin and wanted murderer—he wouldn't approve of himself.

He finally caught her eye, and the way she kept staring, and barked, "_What_?!"

She looked down at her plate, "Nothing. I was just thinking about—"

"What I look like?" He seemed offended.

"You asked about my hair and had no problems staring at me," She snorted, "Why on Earth would you have a problem with me doing the same thing?"

"That was..." He paused, thinking back to the night before, "Different."

"Because I'm a B-cup?" She smirked, her brow creeping up her forehead.

His face felt hot again, and he looked away in any direction, but at her.

"It could be worse," Mae shrugged, "You could be neon purple."

"How would that be worse?" He asked.

"You'd be a lot more noticeable, I guess."

He was more concerned with her notebook. Bits and pieces of ideas about it ran through his mind. Did those people convince her to go away from her family, and then do something to her? Was she a telepath and could just read everyone's minds without meaning to? Or maybe, she was just crazy, and her family wanted to help her.

"We should hurry up and get out of here," He muttered.

* * *

While they were driving, he finally got the guts to ask her again.

"How did you get that white hair again?"

She wasn't listening at first, and when he repeated the question, she got angry. She got fed up enough and pulled her hood up, covering her hair so he couldn't look at it, "Just let it go, _alright_?!"

Finally, he blurted out, "I was raised in an orphanage."

She gave him an odd look, "What?"

"Why I don't like people asking about...how I look," He replied. The shit he did to get a job done, "I was raised in an orphanage."

"And I assume they didn't like that you were green?" She guessed. He gave her a look, and she dropped it.

"To tell you the honest truth," She said, looking out the window with a blank stare, "I have no idea how my hair turned white. Every day, I wake up in a strange place with no memory of how I got there. One day I went to bed with black hair, the next day I had white hair and I was in Pennsylvania."

He said nothing, and let her continue, "I don't remember my family very well. Like I'm remembering something that never happened. Sometimes, I'll get a voice in my head telling me bits and pieces of my past, but I keep feeling like they're looking for me, and it's not a good feeling. I get dreams, too. Really weird ones. I just feel like..."

"You have to run as fast as you can," He finished for her.

She felt odd having someone to agree with her, "Yeah."

"Must be weird," He said, "Not really knowing what's going on."

"I'm more afraid than anything else," She replied quietly, "But soon, I'll be far away from here."


	5. Chapter Four

_A/N: Yeah, I've been unusually silent while posting this, but I'll just come out and say it. I wrote this because I was **really** bored. It's a character I wrote before (In my unfinished and now deleted "Troublemakers") only I've put her somewhere else and made it a two-character dynamic. As evidenced before, I like writing stories with minimal characters. Any more than that and it's like I'm juggling chain-saws. So, I don't know if I'll even finish this story or whatever, but thanks for reading, and feel free to drop any pointers along the way. :)_

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

Traffic hit a dead stop.

Mae jerked awake, "What's going on?"

He shook his head, "I dunno."

They were close by where her family was, he knew that for sure. He reached in his bag and found his binoculars. Looking through them, far up ahead, he saw armed police officers, "_Shit._"

"What?"

"It's a police checkpoint."

"_Shit_ is right," She nodded in agreement, "So what do we do? Abandon the car we stole and make a run for it?"

"We don't even know what it's about," He shrugged, "Might just be a random check."

"Well, I do know that I'm trying to get smuggled out of the country by an anti-human terrorist and murderer, in a car he hotwired," She hissed, "This was stupid, I should've just kept running."

"What, and end up dead?" He said, defensively, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do."

* * *

He pulled the car over to the side of the road and the two slipped off into the woods. Now all they had to do was find out where they were, find a main road, and maybe figure out where to go next.

_Mr. Toad?_

Oh, God, not this crap again. He was getting tired of the smoke and mirrors.

_It would be wise not to ignore me, Mr. Toad,_ Jim sounded very calm, though it sounded as though he had an edge in his voice, and it made the hairs on the back of Toad's neck stand up. However, he had no choice but to ignore him here, with Mae standing so close by.

_Have it your way, Mr. Toad,_ Jim said, ominously, _you have been warned._

"Toad!" He heard Mae shouting, "You're bleeding!" He couldn't quite see straight, and he felt Mae's touch. He was on the ground now, head pounding. He wanted to tell Mae to stop screaming, before someone found him when he realized _he _was the one screaming.

* * *

_"You'll have to excuse my wife," Mr. Bram said, as soon as Toad was able to function again. It took some time, but after coming back from the dead, he seemed to be doing well, "She has strange powers. She means well, of course."_

_Mr. Bram had cold gray eyes and dark hair. All of the Bram's did. However, Mrs. Bram was more soft and kind, like someone who left food out for stray animals. Their oldest son, Kennedy, had visited him often, as he was a part of the family business. The other children were spoken of, but he never saw any of them._

_"What did she do to me?" Toad asked._

_"Well, you were dying," Mr. Bram replied, "Right out there, in the bay. No idea where you came from. You just kind of...appeared. And she...fixed you. Most of your more deadly injuries were fixed that night, but the others, mostly some mild brain damage, has taken some time."  
_

_"She _healed _me?"_

_"I suppose you can call it that, yes."_

_"So now what?" Toad was hoping they weren't expecting money of any sort. He didn't have any._

_"Now, we're gonna let you go home, or where ever," Mr. Bram said, "But one day, we will need you again. And it may cost your life."_

* * *

"Don't get up too fast," Her voice was clear, but the world around him was still cloudy. Toad never felt pain like that before. He figured that was Jim's idea of a warning shot, however, he honestly believed he was going to die right there on the side of the road.

There was still a mild ringing in his ears, and his vision cleared up. She was kneeling in front of him now, holding a battery powered lantern. He had no idea where they were, but it was dark and wet. Putting down the lantern, she grabbed what looked like a ripped bit of fabric and held it up, "Your nose is still bleeding a little."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," She said with concern clear on her face, "You just collapsed and started bleeding," She looked down at the ground, "It took some work but I got you into the woods and patched you up. You're really heavy."

"You could have kept going, on your own," He said, "You don't need me."

"Yes I do," Mae insisted.

"I'm not really good at protecting people," He replied, "I'm not a good person in general."

"You have to be, because that's how I remember you!" She blurted out. Her face reddened and she backed away from him. He looked at her, stunned and at a loss for words.

"What did you just say?"

"Forget it," She hissed, "Maybe I _should_ go on my own."

_She was beginning to remember_.

"You can run away all you like," Toad grabbed her arm tight, "But what you just said tells me that you're sick of it. And you're not going anywhere until you tell me what you remember."

She sat in silence for a minute, at first trying to pull her arm away. She sensed futility in this and then looked at him, fearful, "I don't know how or why, but... The reason I wanted you to help me is because for some reason... I remember meeting you when I was younger."

She was kind of right. He remembered meeting a few of the Bram children, Kennedy in particular. But Brenna he had a hard time figuring out. He saw glimpses of her. Young and carefree, hiding behind her mother as she tried to sneak into his room to see what he was.

"I don't exactly understand why I do," She continued, "Like I can get vivid and sudden pictures of you. In some kind of hospital or something..."

He let her go. She backed away like he was diseased. She didn't want to be anywhere near him, and letting him know what she knew was the final nail in the coffin, "Why do I know you?"


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Fury**

He was finally able to calm her down after some time, and she managed to fall asleep. When he woke up, it was raining. She had wrapped herself in her jacket and was facing the opposite direction of him. He noticed her pack, which was out of tree cover, and was getting wet.

Without waking her up, and refusing to think about the night before, he grabbed it and pulled it toward him.

Instead, he thought about her notebook. It mostly had insane scribbling in it, and for a time, yes, he believed that she was maybe crazy. But judging from what Jim had done to him, she suddenly seemed to have the right idea. What if there was something in there to explain what had happened to her? Then again, she seemed so open to him before last night that she might even come out and say it.

This was a tough decision for him. She was already terrified, from just remembering him. And why did she just suddenly come out with that? Maybe somewhere in her subconscious she had seen him and decided that for some reason she needed him. With no memory, she had no choice but to cling to the one thing she had.

It began to rain a little harder and she stirred, waking upon the sudden realization that she fell asleep.

He smirked at her when she turned to him.

"What's so funny?" She had an edge to her tone. Her face was muddy on one side, as was her hair, and a small clump of leaves got tangled in the white mess.

"You have something in your hair," He muttered, trying to hide his laughter.

She sighed, "Shut up." Clumsily getting to her feet, she brushed leaves and dirt off of herself and flung her jacket on, "We need to get into a town and find somewhere to get cleaned up." Her voice was low, as though she had gone through a change last night. She was no longer the bubbly ball of cheerful she had been, even though she scared the hell out of him when she got nervous.

He wondered if she would stay with him, now that she was terrified of him. Or maybe she had enough time to think about it. His mind had been made up. She was not going home. Not until he got the answers he needed.

* * *

"Are you okay?" He asked, upon entering the first town they found. A little bit of a Stephen King-esque, All-American small town, but it had a diner, where they stopped to eat.

"I'm fine," She said, "Stop pestering me about it."

Their voices were low, and she kept averting her eyes. She seemed to be more worried about him than he was about her.

"You don't think we maybe need to talk about the fact that you saw me in your head?" He asked. She glared daggers at him.

"I just feel like," She paused, "Since I've met you, I've been getting these..._flashbacks_. Memories."

"How do you know they're real?"

"These ones feel different," Mae shrugged, "For some reason, you help me remember things I've forgotten."

"What do you remember?"

"Not a whole lot." She shook her head, "On top of what I already remember."

He bit his tongue. Asking about it may prompt her to fly into any range of emotions. Their friendship was fragile, and he felt a bit of guilt about not telling her about taking her home yet. He had decided long ago that he would take her to Maine, as he promised, and not Massachusetts, and whatever Jim was able to do to hurt him solidified that.

"Then it's time I came out with it, I suppose," He said, quieter than he expected.

She furrowed her brow, "What?"

He took a few deep breaths, trying to form a sentence, "I was contacted by someone to find you."

"I know that part."

"Right...but," He felt that if he kept pausing, it would make it easier, but it didn't. His jaw felt locked up and he had to force himself to continue under her steely gaze, "The people who sent me to find you...Were your parents."

For a moment, she appeared to have been stunned. She just sat there, looking at him, breathing evenly, as though she had not heard him and the conversation had never happened (at least he wished). This form of guilt had never hit him before. Not while he was with the Brotherhood, where he was invincible, under Erik's watchful eye and amazing leadership.

"Can I tell you something, too?" Her voice was small and childlike, it was finally hitting her.

He nodded, "Yeah, go ahead."

"When I told you I knew you were sent to find me," She finally looked away, "I saw it in my head. Something in my gut told me not to find you and that you couldn't be trusted. Now I know why." She rose to her feet.

He made a grab for her hand, trying not to make a scene, hissing, "Where are you going?"

She spun to him, face contorted in rage and her voice a seething growl, "Give me five minutes. It'll determine whether or not I will be needing your services."

* * *

"Well, he confessed," Brenna whispered into the phone. She didn't need to, there wasn't anyone else within earshot at the payphone (quite possibly the last one in existence, she noted). Across the street, she could see Toad in the diner, hanging his head low, and occasionally whipping his head around to spot her.

"Good," The male voice on the other end said, "I told you, Brenna, he was working against you. Did you really think you could trust him?"

She wanted to.

"So now what?"

He paused, "You can meet me. I'll take you wherever you want to go. But you know what you have to do first."

"Of course," She felt herself smiling, "I don't know why I tried not to listen to you."


	7. Chapter Six

_A/N: So, this one took a while to get done. I've been working on another project at the same time as this one. It's not a fanfiction, but anywho... I'd like to thank for the kind reviews! Again, I'm sorry this took so long. This is more of a bridge chapter, I guess. Enjoy!_

**Chapter Six: Telephone**

_Earlier..._

She stood outside in District X, in full view, out in the open. She felt happy to fit in here, but it wasn't what she wanted. The cell phone she had pressed up to her ear was given to her by the mooks trying to get her out of the country, along with the instructions to wait for her contact.

"Do you see him?" The voice on the other end asked.

Through the diner window, she saw a man with his hood covering his head, "Yes. Is he looking for me?"

"Yes. But you can't trust him," The man said, "You should stay away from him. The only thing he will bring you is suffering. Those men you contacted before will return for you, and will try to kill the two of you."

"I don't know who you are, but I've got a mutant to go catch," And with that she hung up the phone and confidently walked toward the diner, a toy gun tucked into her belt.

That was the first phone call she received from the Stranger. It worried her a little, that someone knew her every move and was trying to direct her, but she ignored it, and hoped it would be the last.

* * *

"Where the hell did you disappear to?" He seemed a bit annoyed when she came back into the diner.

She felt that she had more of a reason for being angry than he did. After all, he had worked for her parents the entire time, promising to take her away from Them, and just when she was beginning to believe that she could trust him, he gave her a huge reason not to, "I needed some air."

He sighed and looked down at the table, "Look, I have no intention of handing you over to your family."

"Oh?" She hoped she looked as unimpressed as she sounded, "Did you make that decision before or after your head almost exploded?" He remained silent, allowing her to vent, "How much money did they offer you? Because, hey, they only let someone do _something_ to me so now I have no memory of what happened. But it's okay, because there's a huge paycheck in it for you."

He didn't even look hurt. It made her angrier, but shouting would draw attention to them.

"I'll take you to Maine," He said quietly, "And then you'll never see me again."

He rose to his feet and walked out of the diner, leaving her there, slightly stunned.

* * *

The second call came at the motel, after she came out of the shower. The cellphone vibrated violently against the marble surface of the sink. She caught it and hoped Toad didn't hear it.

"What do you want?" Instead of the calm tone she had before, this time she felt angry. After nearly getting killed for her own stupidity, overusing her abilities, and having to flee for her life with a man she didn't know she could trust yet and having to spend the night in a motel with him in the asscrack of Massachusetts, she felt exhausted.

"Those men who came for you today," He said, "They were looking for him, weren't they?"

"Yeah, but _why_?" She asked, hissing and trying to keep her voice low.

"He owes more than debts to many," The voice was cryptic, and damn if it didn't piss her off more, "You can't over-use your abilities like that, it'll only get you killed."

"How do you know about," But he cut her off.

"As much as you know, I know," He said simply, and the cold delivery gave her the goosebumps, "The longer you spend wandering with him, the worse it will get. If you listen to me, you'll get every answer you want and more."

He paused. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her white hair was matted down from the water, making her look like a wet poodle and she was paler than usual, with dark circles under her eyes.

"How many days have you woken up, wondering where or who you are?" He finally continued, "Why your hair is white as snow and you have nightmares about voices in your head?"

"Please don't call me again," She insisted, trying to sound strong, but the slight tremble in her voice made her come off as scared. She hung up the phone and left the bathroom, remembering that she had stupidly left her clothes out on her bed.

However, she could hear him talking to himself outside and she paused, before deciding to waltz out in her underwear, hoping it would make her laugh and ease her tension.

"Who are you talking to?"

* * *

She was quiet. He didn't like when she was quiet. It made him wonder if she was having memory flash backs about whatever happened to her.

"There's a rest stop up ahead," He said.

"And?" She was still angry.

She had her notebook in her lap, and she was reading over her previous entries. Inwardly, he wrestled with wanting to tell her that he went through her notebook, and wanted to demand what it was all about. In the diner, she stated that someone did "something." She remembered small pieces, and maybe talking about it with him would trigger more memories. Not that he might be able to convince her anyway. He knew that if he asked her anymore or made any confessions now, she'd leave him and try to go the rest of the journey alone.

"Can I tell you something?" He asked.

She sighed and looked up at him, "What?"

"Do you still want me to call you Mae?"

She looked thoughtful, "Well, since you know who I really am, probably more so than I do, I guess you don't have to." She sounded highly offended that he would finally ask her permission for invading her privacy, "I guess you can just call me Brenna."

Maybe if he offered some information back, she wouldn't be so angry, "I used to work for a terrorist organization." It sounded better in his head. She just looked at him, wide-eyed, but she at least didn't seem surprised.

"I know," She nodded. He felt slightly violated, "Hey, you went out of your way to invade my privacy, so I did it right back."

"How did you...?"

"I know a guy."

She had been odd the last couple of days that he forgot what a sarcastic pain in the ass she was. The light in her eyes was gone and all that was left was the desperate hope to get out of the country. He knew it was his fault that she was like this now. All he had to do was drive and get her away, but instead he chose to try and trick her. If he had made the decision in the beginning, they would be long gone by now.


	8. Chapter Seven

_A/N: This one was meant to be short, to kinda push me into writing the next part, but here's chapter seven, and I hope it sheds some light. :)_

**Chapter Seven: Relative**

Toad tried to piece together what he remembered of the Bram family. Mr. and Mrs. Bram had six children, from what he was told. The eldest boy, Kennedy, worked with the patriarch. They all had weird names, he remembered that bit, too. The next youngest boy was in college, last he remembered, and Orin, went to school with Brenna. The other two children he never saw or heard about. Rowan, or referred to as Mrs. Bram in front of her husband, was often gushing about her children. She never talked when her husband was around for some strange reason.

He felt the need to relate this information to "Mae," but in short bursts.

"So, my mother's name is Rowan?" She tried it out, "Yeah, that sounds right. It's a type of tree."

"And you have five siblings," He added.

She scrunched her face up, "Typical Irish family, I guess."

"That name isn't Irish," He said, "It sounds German."

She looked thoughtful, "I_ think_ my family is Irish, at least my mom is. Besides, it could totally be an Irish name."

"With names like 'Brenna' and 'Orin,' I'd say so," He replied, "I can recall that all of you had weird names like that."

They had stopped for food, and he had managed to coax her into eating and tried being friendly toward her. She seemed to be in a better mood after they had been on the road. She still looked exhausted from the last few days, but at least she was smiling again.

"I think my mom named us," She said, stuffing a french fry into her mouth, "Does this mean I have to be called Brenna again?"

"Do you mind if I call you by your real name?"

"I still call you 'Toad' don't I?" She smirked.

_Do you think telling her these stories will make her want to come home?_ Jim invaded his mind again. He could tell when it was going to happen, usually by how cloudy his train of thoughts got.

_Yes_, Toad lied inwardly, hoping Jim would fall for it. What little he learned about mental blocking came from his time with the Brotherhood.

_You're not a very good liar, Mr. Toad._

His mind suddenly felt less clouded, and he was ready for what would come next. Jim was usually very persuasive. He winced, and when nothing happened, he looked at Brenna.

"Are you okay?" She asked. A small drip came from her nose, a bright red color. He tried to stay calm, in the hopes that she would mirror his behavior.

"You're bleeding," He said flatly, pointing at her nose, knowing what would come next.

She reached up to cover her nose, but cried out before she was able to. Gripping the sides of her head, her blood trailing her jacket, she dropped to the ground and writhed on the spot. He came to her side and pushed her hands away, putting his own in their place.

"It hurts," She whimpered, putting her hands on top of his.

"I know," He looked right into her eyes, "It'll only hurt for a minute..."

_Stop it,_ he called out to Jim, knowing full well that he could still hear. Toad knew why Jim was doing this.

_It's out of my hands_, Jim replied, smugly, _It'll stop when I have your word_.

Brenna cried out again, foaming at the mouth, "Make it...stop."

It was as though someone stuck a knife in him and twisted it, "I'm trying, I promise."

_Please_, he pleaded to Jim, _if she dies..._

_You know what you need to do to make this end_.

He cursed to himself, _I'll bring the girl to you._

_Tell the girl to lead the way_, Jim said, _She'll know what to do_.

When Brenna stopped convulsing, she just lay there on the ground, eyes glossed over and staring up into the sky. For a moment, Toad thought that Jim had actually killed her.

"Toad?" She said quietly, not moving, "Is this how it felt when they did it to you?"

"They're angry that I'm taking too long," He said, "So lead the way."

She shook her head, and looked up at him, "Excuse me?"

"Lead. The. Way," He enunciated. He helped her get to her feet, "It's what they told me to tell you."

* * *

"How long have you been contacting this person?" Toad asked as he followed Brenna's instructions.

"Since the day I met you," She shook her head, "It seems that this is what he wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"He said that you were going to take me back to the people who did this to me," She scoffed, "Looks like he was right after all."

"If I don't, they'll kill you," He had insisted this since she made the decision to go home.

"If you do, they'll kill both of us," She said, "I'm starting to remember a hell of a lot more. This 'Jim' guy seems to be a big part of it."

"What the Hell did they even do to you?" He finally had the courage to ask.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took a deep breath, "I honestly don't remember. I heard this weird humming noise, the stranger was talking, and then next thing I know, I'm in a field in Maine. Since then I've moved around erratically, with no memory of how I got there."

"And your family would just let this happen?"

"I think they're the ones that did this to me," She said angrily, "It's been two years, Toad, I've run. I'm starting to think that going to Europe would only cause more problems."

"How do you keep 'disappearing?'" He was genuinely curious about the process.

"I can't really explain it, but when I get scared, I hear that humming noise again, and then I just _poof_," She explained. He smirked at her euphemism.

"What were they trying to do?"

She pulled her notebook out of her backpack, "I think they were trying to use my abilities to do something." She opened to a page with a drawing on it, which looked eerily familiar to him. It looked as if the Bram family was trying to carry out what Magneto had failed to. She saw the look on his face, "What?"

"I've seen a machine like that before," He said, "Before I met your family, my old boss was trying to use something like that to magnify his powers and he wanted to force mutate the world leaders."

"The Liberty Island incident?" She scrunched her face up, "That's what that was, huh? I never really read into it."

"Well, you clearly had other things to worry about," He said.

"I was a teenager, and a normal one at that," She replied, "I went to high school and I got decent grades, I played soccer..." She trailed off, "But after all this, two whole years of not knowing or remembering, I'm never going to be normal again. Why did it take two whole years for them to send you?"

"I'm clearly not the only one they sent," He figured he was one of the last to go after her, "And this Jim guy seems pretty intent on finding you."

"Maybe he's the one who did it to me in the first place."

"No," He shook his head, "I got the feeling that he knew something, but it wasn't like that. It's almost like he was your handler."

She winced at the word, "It makes me sound like a dog."

"Yeah, well, that's all you are to them," He replied. She looked down again, "Unless you want to come up with a plan for stopping this whole thing."

"It doesn't matter, this Jim asshole will hear the plan," She shook her head, "We're backed into a corner now."

He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, by the way."

"What do you mean? Jim is the one who was pulling the strings on my end, too. He was trying to turn me against you so he could take me in himself. He believed you wouldn't have the balls to do it."

"Yeah, well, if I had taken you away from there in the first place, you would have gotten a hell of a lot farther."

"Look, feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to get us away from them or help us come up with a plan."

"Us?" He looked at her. She smirked.

"Do _you_ want to get experimented on?" She flipped through her notebook again, falling on the entries he had already seen, "Think about it. If we go to them and stop them now, it'll be over. And unless we kill the ones responsible, we'll be on the run until the day we die."

He shook his head, "Brenna, you can't kill anyone."

"Says who?" She said, "I'm tired, Toad, and sick of these monsters. Even if my parents are involved. They need to be put down or they'll just keep tracking me down."

"Fine," He sighed, "But you can't help anyone if you're dead, just let me handle the messy parts."


End file.
